After lunch, they went to an electronics store because Lucille wanted a phone. However, Nicole told Lucille that she could not be allowed to have her own phone until she was twelve, so he did not want to get her one. With how kids nowadays with technology, he somewhat agreed. But then, Lucille talked about how the kids in her class thought of her as someone weird since she was the only one who did not have a phone.

Hearing that other kids her age, perceived his daughter weird just because she doesn't have her phone, he conceded. In exchange, he let her promise that the phone he got for her would still be subject to her mother's set of rules. And the phone would be merely used for contacting him or her mother. The phone won't interfere with her studies, no mobile games, and most importantly - no social media!

Nicole would probably give him a hard time, for getting her a phone - something that she was not allowed yet. According to her rule book.

They had finally done with all the shopping, and now they were on their way home, battling the usual rush hour traffic. He took a peek on his phone, and just like before, there was no message at all. As he sighed, Lucille stirred from her sleep in his lap. She was hugging his neck while straddling his lap. He stroked his daughter's back and made a 'hush, hush' sound to soothe her back to sleep.

When Lucille went back to sleep, his mind drifted back to Jess, 'Fuck.' He has no idea what it's like to pursue a girl anymore. Especially someone as sassy as Jess. He softly chuckled, despite the worry in his heart. 'Am I rushing too much?' It is not his intention to tell her that he misses her. It's just that when she asked why he was calling her, all he could do was answer.

Basically, that's what he felt the entire day. He misses her - simple as that. He feels guilty as he holds his daughter on his lap. He promised her that she could have his full attention the whole duration of her summer vacation, but here he is, acting like a teenager desperate to see his crush. 'Noah, you are so lame.' he thought to himself.

He sunk into the soft leather seat of his car, holding Lucille closer to his chest, kissing her temple, and smelling her childlike scent. His mind flashed to the memory of inhaling her baby scent not long ago. She used to fit in the crook of his arm; now, she hangs on his legs like a little monkey. She is growing way too fast!

He dreaded the day she would come to him to tell him she has a crush. He could vividly imagine the scene in which he would probably beat the boy she would like.

'Princess, don't grow too fast. Daddy's not ready yet.' He murmured inwardly as he pressed another kiss on top of her head.

She grunted in her sleep. And the drive home went uneventful.

--

"Antonio, what did you find out about the information I had you look into?"

He just finished reading a bedtime story to Lucille who told him, she wasn't too old for a bedtime story from Daddy. Her daughter had a way with his heart. He grinned like a whipped daddy. He has no complaint.

Now that she was off to dreamland, he entered his home office where Antonio has been working on his own for the majority of the day. He decided to do some work before he and his daughter fly out to Berlin the day after tomorrow. His grandfather wanted to see his great-grandchild, and he can't say no to the old man.

"Miss Nicole indeed met up with someone from Jansen and Jansen."

He handed him an envelope with pictures of Nicole entering the lobby of a well-known hotel in the downtown area. There are some photos of her entering a restaurant too.

"Do we have a photo or a way to know who did she meet in that restaurant?" his face turned into stone knowing his ex-wife meeting some men. Considering they have already divorced, he cannot really tell her who she should or should not meet, especially if it is a personal matter. He does not care about it.

However, if she was meeting a rival company - that was a different matter. Since she works for his company's subsidiary in China. And there has been a recent breach of confidential information with the current research on which she is working. The research was put on hold as they conducted an investigation.

She is his ex-wife but it doesn't mean she would get exempted from the investigation. Everybody is a suspect. Everyone in that laboratory, every person that has an access to that research they are conducting. They can't afford to have that research stolen for the company because they would lose billions of dollars of money!

"We can't. That place keeps the name of its patron into tight security. Hence, it's a favored place to meet up with people who didn't want to be seen or known."

"Tell them to continue tailing her, and to let me know everything she has been doing."

He has a doubt of Nicole's reason for suddenly insisting to come to the US with their daughter. But, he did not expect that she would use the excuse of bringing her daughter to meet people that she shouldn't meet, especially since she was the head researcher for the study under investigation for some missing data!

"Markus sent the report about the business in Dubai while you were out with the Little Miss. The acquisition was going smoothly. They might finish everything a day earlier than scheduled."

"That's good. Once Markus arrived, let him handle some of the work I can't touch while Lucille is here."

They went on the exchange of things that have to be done. Priorities at work that have to be settled, in the silence of Noah's home office. After working for a long stretch of time, the clock chimed at eight o'clock in the evening. He glanced at the clock, thinking if eight is too late to knock on his neighbor's door.

He glanced at Antonio who still has his head buried in the mountain of paperwork. He starts to get antsy until he finally gives in.

He cleared his throat and called, "Antonio, can you check on Jess' Instagram to see what she has been up to?" he continued scrambling his signature on the documents on his table, acting like what he said was some important business matter.

Antonio slowly put down the reports he was reading and looked at his boss who was busy signing documents. "Excuse me, sir?" he wanted to confirm if his ears were playing a prank with him. 'Did his boss really tell him to check Miss Zimmerman's Instagram?'

"Miss Zimmerman's Instagram, please check on it," he said with a straight face.

He watched his boss in bafflement. When did it include in his job description to stalk the girl his boss likes? He faked a cough and told his boss the reason why he was holding grudges. "You asked me to unfollow Miss Zimmerman's Instagram."

He snapped his head at Antonio, "Just follow her or whatever you need to do to see her Instagram."

He looked at his boss with incredulity, "Boss, it does not work that way! Especially that Miss Zimmerman's Instagram was set on private."

"What do you mean?" he paused his pretended work and faced his secretary who looked at him with indignation as if he had suddenly gone insane. 'He probably is.'

"Well..." Antonio sighed. His professionalism is slowly crumbling down with what his boss is asking him right now. "You see when you ask me to unfollow Miss Zimmerman's Instagram, I can no longer see her post. And if I would follow her now again, she would know that I unfollowed her. And that is not cool!" he spat in frustration.

"How do we get access to her Instagram, then?"

His jaw dropped at the fact that he was asking him like they were discussing some business deal. His boss is utterly shameless!

"Request to follow her Instagram, sir," he said in a small voice.

"Let's do that!" he picked up his pen and went back to the documents he was signing.

"Excuse me, sir?" His voice turned squeaky like a mouse caught by the housecat. His boss must have not understood his explanation about how Instagram works.

"Follow Miss Zimmerman's Instagram."

"Sir, even if we… I sent a request to follow her Instagram, I'm not sure if she would accept the request since I already unfollowed her before. She might find it strange." He tried to explain things to him slowly for it seemed like he couldn't catch up with his explanation.

"We will not know until you do, Antonio. So do it!"